March 11, 2026

Fifteen years have passed since the March 11, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear disaster. In the three hardest-hit prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima, affected people are still struggling to rebuild their lives and livelihoods.

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Koike Akira in his statement issued on this day demanded that the government should drastically increase financial support for the disaster-affected regions and people.

Koike noted that following the government’s policy to decrease financial assistance to the three prefectures, over 40% of 42 municipalities in these prefectures plan to terminate or scale down their reconstruction projects.

As an example, Koike cited some local governments’ moves to terminate the provision of subsidies to activities supporting disaster survivors, such as counseling. He pointed out that isolated deaths at temporary housing and public housing units for disaster victims have become a problem. He appealed for the need to enhance public support for the provision of mental health services for the victims and the maintenance of community ties. He said that the central government should not end its financial support for local governments in order to enable them to continue their subsidy projects.

Koike stated that Japan faces a constant risk of disaster occurring anywhere in Japan. He stressed that aimed at advancing disaster prevention and mitigation measures, the government should restrict environmentally irresponsible development and promote measures to build disaster-resilient communities and national infrastructure. He added that it is also necessary for the government to improve the existing earthquake and typhoon monitoring system, encourage local governments to increase their disaster preparedness, and implement measures to maintain and enhance healthcare and welfare systems in normal times in order to protect people’s lives and health during a disaster.

Koike said that the government should give up on its policy to use part of the revenues from the special reconstruction income tax for the military buildup and instead drastically increase its budget to help disaster-affected people and regions promote their reconstruction efforts, including rebuilding livelihoods and homes and revitalizing local economies.